Thursday, February 26, 2009

Webinar - Nothing makes you sound more douchey than saying "webinar"Shoot me an email - There are many things you shoot. An email is not one of them.I'll grab you on that in a minute - this may be exclusive to my office/ company, but it drives me insaneHunj- (Short for "hundred") - you sound like a douchey frat boyVerbiage - THIS IS NOT A WORDFat-finger - This means to mistype. Perhaps you should just say "mistype".Head's up - Just sounds dumb

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I'm sure, like me, you've seen thisallovertheplace. It looks like fun, though, and I had a Valentine's Day post that I planned but never wrote, so...

What are your middle names?Alicia and Houston. (Technically, mine is now my maiden name, but I'm not putting that on the Internet!) I love his middle name. I keep wanting to pass it on to a child.How long have you been together?TEN YEARS!! We got together in our last year of college, which was 1999. How long did you know each other before you started dating?We met three years earlier, in an astronomy class, and I would say that I knew who he was then, but we weren't really friends. More casual acquaintances. Then, in the fall of 1998, he moved in down the hall from me and started flirting with me. I got to know him a lot better then!Who asked whom out?He asked me out.How old are each of you?Last month, Rock hit the big 4-0. And I'm 32.Whose siblings do you see the most?We're both only children. (Soon to be raising three children!)Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple?Everyone has said parenting, and that's true to a large degree of us, too. But, we are very much in agreement on how to raise the children and what is acceptable behavior and what is acceptable punishment, so we don't really disagree on that front very often. I think the hardest situation on us is deciding how many children to have. Rock has always wanted a VERY big family (he started out saying he wanted ten kids! HAHAHAHANOWAYINHELL!!!) whereas I get stressed out by the two kids we already have and am not too sure I want more than 3.Did you go to the same school?Yes, that's where we met.Are you from the same home town?No. Rock was born and raised in Ohio and moved to NC when he was 17. I was born, raised and have lived my whole life in NC. Who is smarter?We're pretty even. Rock remembers a lot more of what he learned in school, but I have the distinct edge when it comes to pop culture.Who is the most sensitive?I'm sure this is me. However, Rock can be very sensitive and will occasionally lash out if his feelings are hurt.Where do you eat out most as a couple? There is a really good Mexican restaurant in town. There's also a really great steakhouse, but it's considerably more expensive, so we don't go there as often.Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?Ah, that would be Montana. We took a huge road trip in 2007, from NC to Montana, SD, Wyoming, etc with a 4 year old and a 7 month old. It was...interesting. I'll leave it there.Who has the craziest exes?We're about equal here, too. He has two ex-wives, both of whom were pretty crazy. I have one ex-boyfriend who was an abusive dick and one who is probably gay. Fortunately, we don't interact with any of them, so they mostly exist in stories we tell each other. We have a pretty good time laughing at some of the dumb stuff our exes did and said.Who has the worst temper?Rock. I'm the silent angry type. Who does the cooking?He does. He is an excellent cook.Who is the neat-freak?That would be him. I have piles of clutter all over the place.Who is more stubborn?Hmmm....this is pretty even. The real difference is that I will give in and do what he wants so that I'm not alone. If he doesn't want to do something, there is no moving him.Who hogs the bed? Neither of us, really. He basically doesn't move once he falls asleep. I toss and turn in a small area, and we have a king size bed, so there's always plenty of room.Who wakes up earlier?On weekdays, I do, because I have to go to work. On weekends, he does, to take care of the kids so I can sleep in.Where was your first date? A little bar/ restaurant in Greensboro called City Lights. I have no idea if it's still there or not.Who is more jealous?*mumblemumble* um, that would be me. He gets hit on all the time while he's out with the kids, so I have a bit of a chip on my shoulder about this one.How long did it take to get serious?It took us a long time to get serious. We dated casually for about two years, then he sort-of moved into my apartment. After 2.5 years, we decided to move in together and bought our house. It still took another 5 years for us to get married. Who eats more? This is totally a loaded question, isn't it, y'all? He does, because he snacks all day and eats meals, too. I eat fairly large meals, but don't really snack between them (except when I'm pregnant).Who does the laundry?He is the laundry KING! Although we both suck at folding and putting away clothes. But he does laundry all the time, and is even willing to stay up and keep an eye on my clothes on Sunday nights.Who’s better with the computer? He would be, except that he never uses a computer anymore. He used to do programming stuff back in the '80's and if he had stuck with it, or if he went back to it, he would be really good. I know how to use a lot of programs and stuff, but I don't know anything about programming languages or things like that.Who drives when you are together?He does. I'm a good driver, but I drive too fast (and I have the speeding tickets to prove it). I will occasionally drive, if we're taking my car and I don't want him to move the seat and rear view mirror, but most of the time, I just let him drive. Oh, and he's WAY BETTER in snow and ice.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Oh, wasn't BlogShare wonderful?! I hope you all read all the entries. And thank you for making our guest contributor feel so welcome and for leaving such great comments on her post.

So! *brisk clap* The Oscars were last night and yes, I stayed up and watched them all. I LOVE the Oscars. I love movies and I love acting and I love actors and actresses, so awards for acting? Hello! I'm there! Favorite moments:

In the Barbara Walters interview beforehand, Mickey Rourke offered his take on winning the Oscar: "Let's face it, you can't eat it, you can't fuck it, and it won't get me into Heaven."

Also in the Barbara Walters interview, Hugh Jackman told the sweetest story about his dad. When Hugh was just starting out, he was invited to sing at Carnegie Hall. His dad was flying from Australia to NY and back the next day. Hugh told his dad that the event was black tie. The day of, he finds out that it isn't black tie, calls his dad back and tells him and his dad says okay. Dad arrives to pick Hugh up, and he's dressed in black tie. Hugh reminds him that it really isn't black tie, and his dad looks at him and says, "My son is singing at Carnegie Hall. For me, it IS black tie." While he performed, he could see his dad out in the audience, leaning forward in his seat, tears streaming down his face.

Hugh Jackman as host. He really has that Old Hollywood, song and dance man appeal.

Heath Ledger's win. And his family's acceptance speeches. And the fact that every person the camera focused on had tears in his or her eyes.

Kate Winslet's win. I LOVE Kate Winslet and she has deserved an Oscar many, many times over. Her father whistling so she could find him in the audience was beautiful. So sweet.

Loved having five previous winners present the acting awards. Such nice little touches in their speeches introducing each nominee. I do wish they had played clips of each performance like they used to, though. Some of us haven't seen all of these movies (or any of these movies, as the case may be).

Yes, the Oscars are hella long. But instead of griping and trying to cut stuff each year, why don't they just move them to Saturday night instead of Sunday night? That way, everyone on the East Coast won't have to get up and go to work the next morning. Surely the stars wouldn't mind having an extra day to party it up.

Um, apparently, that Slumdog Millionaire movie is pretty good, huh?

In addition, Supergirl LOVED watching the Oscars, so now I have a buddy to share them with! How cool is having kids?!

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Last year, I discovered BlogShare, in which participants send in an anonymous post and it gets posted on someone else's blog and they, in turn, post a post by someone else in the BlogShare group. I obsessively read every post and thought it was just the coolest thing ever. So this year, I decided to participate. The post below was not written by me. It was written by someone else in the BlogShare group. I wrote a post for BlogShare and it is posted somewhere else. I hope you enjoy and please visit -R-'s blog for more information and a list of all the participants.

I discovered this letter on my computer recently. It was written in late 2006, but each time I re-read it I get as angry as if it had happened yesterday. The relationship my husband and I have with his mother has deteriorated rapidly over the last few years, and this letter that I wrote - but never sent - after a particularly bad encounter shows the issues pretty clearly. Well, some of them, anyway. I don’t think the others can be summed up in fewer words than War and Peace. For the purposes of using this as a post I added a few comments - [bracketed] - for clarification. And names have been removed, obviously.

Dear Mother-in-law:

Before your son and I got married, you told me that I should let you know if you ever did anything to upset me. You said that you didn’t want me to resent you the way you have always resented your in-laws. That being said, some things have happened recently that make me very angry and resentful, and I feel that they should be brought out into the open. I have always thought it better to talk about and air my concerns anyway, rather than stew about them silently.

First of all, I understand that you are upset that I never apologized for the Couch Incident. I think there have been a lot of misunderstandings surrounding that event. My intention was certainly not to hurt your feelings – my reaction to the damage [OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO MY NEW COUCH?!] would have been exactly the same if there had not been anyone sitting on the couch at that time, or if it had been my own mother sitting there. I certainly was not implying that you had anything to do with it, nor did that thought ever cross my mind. I would think you should know me well enough by now to realize I would never intentionally hurt anyone’s feelings like that. I am not in the habit of apologizing unnecessarily. However, I am sorry that you were offended.

I feel that I should let you know what damage has been done to your relationship with your son. He is very hurt by the way things have been going between the two of you lately. He feels like you don’t care about him at all anymore. I’m sure it has not been your intention to hurt him, much as he has never intended to hurt you. He would certainly never admit it to you, but he was very upset by the events surrounding his birthday. The whole “birthday visit” was obviously a thinly veiled ploy to come and see your grandson. And speaking of which, couldn’t you have sent a birthday card to your own son, when you managed to mail a card to your grandson for no reason at all? That card to Grandson arrived the day before your son’s birthday, and it certainly seemed a slap in the face that he never received a card at all. Not to mention a gift. Obviously the gift isn’t the point but it was hurtful for Husband to suddenly not receive one (when you always have given a gift in years past), especially when he found out that his brother received a gift in the form of concert tickets.

If you feel unwelcome in our home, I apologize for that. I don’t ever want anyone to feel unwelcome. Possibly because we don’t get the chance to invite you to visit we are caught off guard when you come. Perhaps this is simply my interpretation of events (as I am only finding things out as Husband tells me), but it seems to me that I am always merely informed that you will be coming - usually the day before [and one time I was notified of your unexpected arrival while I was in the freaking SHOWER] - and consequently feel unprepared. I have always been somewhat of a planner in that regard, and I don’t deal well with last minute changes of plan. I’m happy to host you in my home when I have the time to prepare for it. Making plans well in advance also eliminates the confusion and frustration caused when you want to come up here but we have already arranged to be elsewhere.

I additionally feel that we are owed a measure of respect in our own home, something that was evidently not displayed this weekend. I don’t feel that it is proper to come into your son’s house and start berating him. [I do not actually recall the specifics of this outburst as I was not present, but do remember that it was unprovoked and completely unwarranted.] I understand that you are his mother, but this gives you no right to talk to him that way. In fact, as a mother, I cannot conceive of ever belittling my own son in that manner. I know that you would never tolerate that sort of behavior in your home. Husband is a lot more tolerant than me, that is for sure. Which I imagine is the reason you don’t start such “discussions” in my presence.

I am going to go ahead and let Grandson stay with you while we go on vacation, because those plans have already been made, but please know that my frustration with recent events has given me reason to reconsider. After all, if you will be so hateful to your own son, who is to say you won’t lose your cool with Grandson some day and do the same to him? I cannot allow that to happen. And there is the respect issue in this situation as well. I feel that you have been very disrespectful of me in the way that you care for my son. I recall the very first time I left him with you – your dismissal of my carefully written tips and instructions with a wave of your hand. How distressing for the wishes of a brand-new mother to be so callously ignored in regard to her [9-month-old] baby. It isn’t as though I didn’t trust you, but that action was disrespectful and I found it hurtful. Even now, I am well aware that you do not make Grandson sleep in a separate room when he comes to visit as is the custom at home. This troubles me in that it shows an egregious lack of respect for me, as his mother, when you do not even try to follow along with the routines that I have in place for him. I am a fairly relaxed, laid-back person, but I do get very upset to know that you allow him to sleep with you (and presumably the dog), a break in his routine that causes behavioral disruptions and complications when he returns home. Yes, you are the grandmother and therefore entitled to do a fair amount of spoiling him, but dismissal of routines and contradiction of our feelings is (in my opinion) totally crossing the line. I feel that we need to define some boundaries for the good of our future relationship, and I must apologize for not doing so earlier.

I have to admit that I am so angry right now that my hands are shaking and my heart is pounding. How dare you hurt MY husband. It kills me so see him so upset, thinking that his own mother doesn’t love or even care about him. This is what your actions have demonstrated to him of late, that he is merely the gatekeeper to your grandson, an obstacle to be overcome on the way to the child you truly love. Well, you know what? Grandkids are a privilege, NOT A RIGHT, and you seem to have forgotten this. I will protect my son and will do what I have to do in order to spare him the emotional turmoil and pain that has been caused his father.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

So remember when I posted my Top Ten books of 2008 and Marshall Karp, author of Rabbit Factoryand Bloodthirsty, left that awesome comment? And remember how he offered to do a Q&A with us when his new book, Flipping Out, comes out in April? Well, we're making it even better. Instead of just one Q&A, we're doing a three-part Q&A masterpiece. My fellow fans, Amy and Shelly, and I will be jointly hosting a Q&A session with Mr. Karp on April 13th. We've set up an email address, askmarshallkarp@gmail.com for you to email your questions to Marshall. Each of us will carry a part of the Q&A on our blog on April 13th. In addition to getting a Real Live Published Author to answer your questions, we're also giving you a chance to win the grand prize. PRIZE??!!! Did someone say prize? That's right. One lucky person will win an autographed copy of the latest in the Lomax and Biggs series, Flipping Out, due out on March 31, 2009. So send your questions early and often! While I won't guarantee that asking more questions will get you more entries in the contest, it can't hurt, now can it?

Now, as to the person you will be questioning, Marshall Karp is not your stereotypical, prima donna author. He sincerely digs his fans. And he has an amazing sense of humor. In fact, when we told him we wanted to create some graphics to publicize the Q&A session, he asked us what we had in mind. Clever smartasses that we are, we replied with, "How about 'Meet The Asshole Who Wrote This Book?', and without skipping a beat he countered, "Cool — you'll probably want a picture. I'll call my proctologist."

If you haven't read The Rabbit Factoryor Bloodthirsty, consider this your motivation to visit your local library or bookstore and at least get yourself a copy of The Rabbit Factory. Seriously, you CANNOT read Flipping Out(you know, WHEN you win!) without first reading The Rabbit Factory. We will take questions for Mr. Karp from now until April 1. Imagine how you could impress your friends when you invite them over, a literary discussion ensues, and you whip out your personally autographed copy of your latest favorite book. That, my friends, is priceless. And not just because you got the book for free.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Cat sneezes are funny. Cats coughing up hairballs is quality entertainment and tickets should be sold.

So far, this baby is pretty agreeable. I have not thrown up at all. (Knock on wood.)

It has its annoying habits, though. For example, it hates chicken. And this morning at 3 am, it wanted to stretch its legs. (Seriously, I woke up and COULD NOT get comfortable. I got up and went to the bathroom, even though I didn't have to pee, and it was happy. I could feel it stretch out a little.)

60 degree days are glorious. Immediately following a 60 degree day with a small snow/ freeze event and a high of 40 degrees is just cruel, however.

Buying maternity clothes at 4 weeks pregnant is wrong on MANY levels. Regardless, I will be doing so tonight.

Getting kicked in the eye at 3am by a two year old WILL piss me off. I may swear. - Correction: I will swear, I may threaten violence.

The Twilight series sucks. That said, the fourth book is BY FAR the best. There's a section written from Jacob's perspective that is almost (dare I say it?) almost good.

Renesmee Carlie Cullen is the worst character name I've ever read, and yes, I am including Trading Up, in which I mentally changed Comstock Dibble's name to Tom.

I have too much work to do to be writing this list. Oh well.

I am on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn and I still can't find my college roommate. Where the hell is that girl?!

About Me

Thirty-gulp-nine year old wife and mother. Though I will talk about my family from time to time, this will not be a mommy blog.
Cast of Characters:
Rock - husband
Supergirl - 13 year old daughter
Wildman - 9 year old son
Bear - 2 year old son